Скачать или смотреть KUGS - FATBOY 50BMG (shot #1)

On Tuesday, November 8th 2022, Florian invited me to take more shots with his FATBOY prototype. But this time, fitted with a monstrous .50 BMG (12.7x99mm NATO) caliber barrel.

What was the idea? Well, the FATBOY is designed as an affordable, user-customizable single-shot platform to experiment and have fun with various rifle caliber ammunition. Florian claims that the FATBOY receiver is good enough to withstand any rifle caliber up to .50 BMG included. So, he had to prove it, right?

Florian is a very practical person. So, to make a testbed, instead of having a dedicated barrel made, he just took a Browning M2 machine gun barrel (whish is not a gun part in Switzerland), had it rethreaded to fit the receiver, and voila! You get a .50 BMG FATBOY. Fat and ugly, that is.

Of course, there is a slight problem with this approach. Well, the M2 barrel weights about 11 kilos (that is about 24 pounds). So, that does not exactly make the easiest rifle to shoulder. Also, this barrel has no muzzle brake whatsoever. But hey, a .50 Cal barrel is a .50 Cal barrel, and this is for science, right?

Ah, also, the barrel is long. Very long. Uncomfortably long. 1.15m long (45 inches). So, as a pun, Florian had it engraved with a couple of lines from the Cyrano de Bergerac's Nose Monologue. Which reads: "Aimez-vous à ce point les oiseaux que paternellement vous vous préoccupâtes de tendre ce perchoir à leurs petites pattes ?" ("Do you love birds so much that paternally you were concerned to extend this perch to their little paws?")

So, Florian assembled the rifle, found some military surplus ammunition, booked a suitable shooting range, and off we went.

Of course, we fired the first shot (#1) "unmanned". With the rifle just strapped to a table, and us sheltered behind some thick steel at a safe distance. Not that we were worried, though. The FATBOY is a very safe design, with well thought overpressure vents, so we were fairly confident. Yet, when you pull that string, you can never be 100% sure what will happen.

Well, the FATBOY behaved just as expected. Of course, it very energetically tilted that flimsy table in the process.

With close inspection of the parts done, it was time to have fun.

Florian took the second shot (#2). Just to get a feel of the recoil, he first cradled the rifle in his arms. Naturally, the FATBOY tried to treat him as it did with the table. But Florian was undeterred, and he felt brave enough to shoulder the 30 pound-ish contraption (shot #3). And he was skillful enough to stay on his feet.

When it was my turn, I first shot from a kneeling position. Then using that flimsy table as a makeshift rest.

The verdict? Well, ignoring the fact that a M2 barrel is a heavy beast, it was an unforgettable experience. The FATBOY has a match trigger, so every shot comes sharp and clean. The recoil was quite bearable, probably because that M2 barrel is so heavy, (no shoulder was injured in the making of the movies).

So, good job, Florian, and congrats on another successful creative firearm!

Serge Vidal
Gunsmith – Firearms instructor
Geneva, Switzerland